Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick

Cape Tormentine is a Canadian rural community in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.

The community derives its name from a headland of the same name which extends into the Northumberland Strait, forming the easternmost point in the province.

On September 9, 1886, the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Railway reached Cape Tormentine, connecting the hamlet with the new junction point of Sackville on the Intercolonial Railway's Truro-Moncton mainline.

The NB&PEIR created a boom in the community as from 1886 to 1917, Cape Tormentine became the primary destination for the winter iceboat service from Prince Edward Island.

On August 1, 1914 the NB&PEIR was merged into the Canadian Government Railways system and the line was extended further east into a new port facility built for the railcar and passenger ferry SS "Prince Edward Island", which began service between Cape Tormentine and Port Borden, Prince Edward Island in 1917.

Following CGR's merger into the Canadian National Railways in 1918, CNR operated the ferry service from Tormentine-Borden until 1977 when a corporate reorganization saw its operation placed under a subsidiary, CN Marine. On December 31, 1989, Cape Tormentine witnessed the last train arriving from Prince Edward Island, following CN's abandonment of that province's railway service (see Prince Edward Island Railway); this also marked the date of the last train in Cape Tormentine.

A further reorganization of CN Marine in 1986 saw the company renamed Marine Atlantic, which operated the ferry service until the opening of the Confederation Bridge on May 31, 1997. Following the opening of the bridge between Borden and Cape Jourimain, several kilometres northwest of the community, Cape Tormentine has continuously retracted as people move away for employment and property values decline. It is now largely a summer cottage destination with several dozen year-round residents who largely depend on the fishing industry.

Sleeper-lounge railway car "Cape Tormentine" was built in 1954 by Pullman-Standard (Chicago) for the Canadian National Railways. It ran between Chicago and Toronto and later on other CN and VIA RAIL CANADA trains. Purchased by the Florida Railroad Museum in 1983, it has 2 bedrooms, 2 compartments and a lounge plus a galley. It sleeps 8 and seats 26 in the lounge.

External links

[http://www.fgcrrm.org/ Florida Railroad Museum official website]